St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-04-07
Place of Observation
slower. Higher.
AVOIDING TAXATION.

The facilities for concealing personal
property are so numerous that it becomes
next to impossible for the tax gatherer to
reach it. This is more particularly true in
cities and towns where money finds invest
ment in classes of property that can be
easily hidden away from the eye of the as
SCISSOR. The result is that the bulk of per-
sunal property in almost every city escapes
taxation altogether. 1t is not the fault of
the assessor that this is the case. He can
only list what is in sight. and for the resi-
due has to take the sworn statements of
parties who render schedule of their tax
able property. The fault is with the prop
erty owner, who yields to the temptation
of making false return because he feels
assured that he will not be detected. The
result is that every city is yearly deprived
of large amount of its legitimate reve-
nues. A few years ago the county COM
misSioners of Hamilton county, Ohio. in
which the city of Cincinnati is located,
were so impressed with the belief that
arge portion of the personal property In
the city was escaping taxation, they en-
.loyed the services OF an expert to ferret
he matter out, and supplied him with
tull resources for pushing his detective
work. The result was that the annual rev.
enues of the city were increased by nearly
half million dollars. Subsequently the
city of indianapolis adopted the same plan
and added 5000, 900 annually to the city
treasury The cities of Columbus and
Cleveland also adopted the same system and
have been we'll compensated for it. A few
days ago the county commissioners of Hen
nepin county resolved to try the same exper-
iment in Minneapolis. Wherever the de-
tective system has been employed it is found
to work well. The Cincinnati plan was to
employ capable expert, giving him for his
services stated per cent. on the valuation
of all the personal property he discovered
unlisted for taxable purposes. Now. why
should not the Ramsey county commission
erS try the same experiment? A glance at
the assessors or auditors books will con-
vince any one that there is a large amount
of taxable property in this city which is not
bearing its proportion of the burdens OF
taxation. And as rule it is in the hands
men who are best able to pay taxes. The
little property owned by the poor man is
always in sight and the assessor could
not miss it if he wanted to. 1t
is the man whose thousands are
in bonds and stocks and mortgages which
can be tied up in little bundles and Secreted
i'll a private desk who escapes the tax
gatherer. An examination of the auditors
financial statement for the current yea
shows that the total value of personal prop
erty listed for taxation in Ramsey county is
only fraction over SIC O0O 900. Any ore
of us could sit down and name over sixteen
men in the city of st. Paul who own that
much personal property And yet the total
~aluation Of all the personal property
owned by the Is 0.00O people in this city
does not exceed that which is popularity
supposed to be owned by less than score
of individuals. In the language of the
Private Secretary, there must be screw
loose somewhere in a tax system which
shows such bad results. And so far as we
can see the only remedy is to devise some
plan by which the hidden property can be
discovered and the holders made to con.
tribute their fair proportion to til public
revenues. Ii the services of an expert
have been so beneficial in other cities why
should it not be an encouragement to us ia
go and do likewise. At all events the
GLOBE takes the liberty to call the attea
ii on of the county commissioners to the
subject and to ask for it a careful cons ider.
alton